Rhymes with Orange
by Shinku-Twilight
Summary: Hinata receives a poem from a secret admirer. Warning: contains humor, romance, and bad poetry.
1. Chapter 1

OKay, my first thing in a while (darn you school!) so I hope it's not bad. There's a little poetry, but not too much (since my poetry isn't very good). The title's from a comic strip I read, and happens to fit the story (and I couldn't think of anything better).

* * *

Clouds slowly drifted through the sapphire sky. A hawk lazily flew high above the buildings, watching the people of the village with a keen eye. Turning around, the hawk flew away from Konoha.

Hinata watched the hawk until it had flown past the Hokage faces. Then she resumed her walk. Her team wasn't supposed to meet for a few more minutes, so she had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery. Trees rustled quietly as a breeze blew through them. Light danced between the leafy branches, until Hinata came to a clearing. She looked around and smiled when she saw her teammates waiting for her. Kiba was covered in dirt, and it was obvious he had just been beaten in a fight. From Shino's smug face, it wasn't hard to figure out who he had lost to. They waved to her and she quickly closed the gap between herself and them.

"Morning Hinata. You just barely made it." Kiba reached down and patted Akamaru, who jumped up when he saw Hinata. She dropped to one knee and scratched him behind his ears. "You missed my new awesome technique! It's definitely going to help out on missions."

"If your 'awesome technique' was that stunt you tried on me, it isn't going to do anything." Kiba glared at Shino.

"That was an accident! Next time, _you'll_ be the one eating dirt for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." Kiba struck what he thought was a cool pose. Unfortunately, he had been taking lessons from Gai-sensei and Rock Lee. Hinata sputtered, trying to hold back laughter. Shino's mouth twitched.

"Keep it up and you'll be making our enemies die of laughter." Shino and Kiba glared at each other until Kurenai-sensei showed up for the training session.

After a few hours of running, dodging, and generally being abused, the session ended. Kiba snapped his fingers and handed Hinata an envelope once Kurenai-sensei had left.

"I almost forgot. I found this when I got here. It has your name of it, Hinata. Do you know what it is?" Hinata shook her head, reading her name on the outside of the envelope. It was written in a flowing script, like a signature. "Well, open it already! Maybe it's a secret mission from the Anbu. Or a ransom note for your sister! Or…" Shino put his hand over Kiba's mouth, effectively muffling him.

"Go ahead and open it."

Hinata nodded and carefully ripped the envelope open. Inside was a single sheet of folded paper. She unfolded it and read it to herself.

_Dear Hinata,_

_You're the girl I care for,_

_I wish I could see you more._

_You light up my life,_

_I'd stand by you in any strife._

_Looking at anyone else my heart turns to wood,_

_You fill it more than anyone else could._

_If I had to make the choice,_

_I'd give up my loud voice,_

_Just to be with you._

_To tell the truth, I really like you,_

_I hope you answer 'I like you, too'._

_Love, your secret admirer_

Hinata read it twice before looking up. Kiba and Shino sat staring at her, eager to hear what it said. Her eyes rolled toward the sky before everything went black.

…

Hinata opened her eyes slowly, to see a worried Akamaru standing over her. She sat up and saw that Kiba was doubled over laughing. Shino sat next to him, reading from the letter with a smile on his face. Standing quickly, Hinata grabbed the letter from him. Kiba calmed down enough to wipe the tears from his eyes, and looked up at Hinata.

"That," he gasped, "has got to be the worst poem I've ever read." Shino looked over at him.

"I didn't know you read poetry."

"I don't, but even if I did that would still be the worst." Kiba grinned. "I mean, rhyming 'wood' and 'could'? It's like a little kid wrote it." Shino and Kiba stared at each other, and broke down into helpless giggles.

"Well, I thought i-it was nice." Hinata huffed. "And I thought you t-two were more mature than that." Shino hung his head, shoulders still bouncing with laughter, and Kiba grinned sheepishly at her.

"Sorry, but come on. It was funny." Kiba pointed at the envelope. "And whoever wrote it wasn't a genius, since he said to answer, but didn't tell you who he was."

"I d-don't care. I'm going to find out who wrote this." Hinata looked down at the letter.

Kiba sighed. "I can only think of one numbskull our age who could write this badly." Hinata blushed and nodded. Kiba looked at her. "So, are you going to go ask him if he wrote it? You _did_ just say you'd find the guy who wrote it, and he'd be the most likely candidate."

Hinata stood and turned away from her teammates. "I'm g-going." She told them, hoping that she sounded more sure of herself than she felt.

…

Hinata stared at Naruto's door. She reached out a hand to knock, and pulled it back. Hinata gripped the letter and sighed. She'd been standing there for the better part of an hour, trying to knock. But every time she reached out she was unable to touch the door, let alone hit it hard enough for someone inside the apartment to hear. Hinata turned away from the door and shut her eyes, trying to get enough courage to knock. "Go f-for it." She whispered to herself and spun around. Eyes shut, she reached out to knock and made contact. Unfortunately, what she made contact with wasn't the door.

"Uh, Hinata, what're doing?"

Hinata opened her eyes to see that she was knocking on Naruto's shirt. "S-sorry!" She quickly withdrew her hand and blushed. "I wanted t-to ask you something, N-Naruto." Hinata gulped and froze. Naruto looked at her, confusion written across his face.

"What do you want to ask me?" Naruto ran a hand through his hair and adjusted his headband.

Hinata broke out of her trance and held the letter in front of Naruto. "D-Did you write this?" She asked, turning an even darker shade of red. Naruto took the letter and read it quickly.

"Sorry Hinata, but that's not my handwriting." He handed it back to her. "My handwriting is awful. I've gotta go now, so I'll see you around." He took off down the street, leaving Hinata on his doorstep.

Hinata watched him run away, feeling her heart crumpled.

* * *

I hope that you liked it and will read the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, here's the next chapter.

* * *

Hinata stirred her tea slowly. Across the table Ino and Tenten chatted and laughed at the latest gossip. Sakura listened to them from her seat next to Hinata, but didn't speak. It had been Ino's idea to have a girls' day whenever they were all free from missions, to make sure that they stayed close friends as time passed. Normally, Hinata would just listen to Ino's newest rumors, but her mind was on other things. To be precise, she was thinking about the identity of her secret admirer.

"What're you thinking about Hinata?" Sakura turned to Hinata, realizing that it wasn't the girl's normal silence. Hinata snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Sakura. "Is something bugging you?" Hinata nodded, and Ino leaned toward her.

"Well then, spill it!" Ino smiled. "This week's gossip is boring anyway." Under the girls' gazes, Hinata explained what had happened the day before, from getting the letter to the talk at Naruto's apartment.

"And that's i-it." Hinata finished, glancing at the other girls' faces. "I can't figure out w-who wrote it."

"A secret admirer, how exciting!" Ino squealed, earlier gossip forgotten. "Well, let's see… It could be anyone, but let's start with the boys our age." She quickly wrote down a list of names. "I'm just going to cross Neji's name off, because he's your cousin. Next on the list is Shikamaru."

Tenten shook her head. "No way. It would be too 'troublesome' to write anything, let alone a poem."

"I agree with Tenten." Sakura pointed at the list. "You might as well cross Choji's name off too, because he's more interested in food than in girls." Ino crossed off the two names.

"What about Lee?" Ino read the next name, and Sakura shuddered.

"Remember his last declaration of love?" Sakura pointed out. "It had included him riding a bull, _naked_, to prove his love. Poetry isn't his style."

"Point taken. Oh, I've got it!" Ino smiled and jumped out of her seat. "It has to be Shino. Secret Admirer, Shino Aburame, the both have the same initials!"

Tenten pushed her back into her chair. "Back up for a second. Both Shino and Kiba were there when Hinata got the letter, and both of them thought it was a bad poem. If one of them _had_ written it, he wouldn't have made fun of it."

"I think T-Tenten's right. Neither of them would have written it." Hinata added, and watched Ino cross the names off. After many more failed people, one name remained. Ino starred at it and sighed.

"The only name that's left is Naruto. And he already said that it wasn't him." Ino ripped the list into little pieces. "So much for that. Any other ideas that could help?" As the other girls brainstormed, Hinata couldn't help but wonder what Naruto was up to.

…

Naruto was fuming. He had checked the bars, bookstores and gambling shops, but had found neither hide nor hair of the person he was looking for. Storming past the bath house, he froze as an idea hit him. Silently, he crept to the doorway of the women's bath and took a deep breath.

"Hey, Ero-sennin, what're you doing?!" He yelled, and quickly darted out of the way as screams and bath items flew out the doorway. A white haired man, covered in bumps and bruises, followed close behind the other thrown things. Naruto grinned at the man as he slowly sat up.

"Naruto, how many times have I told you not to bother me when I'm doing research?" Jiraiya glared at his student. Naruto ignored his question.

"Did you give Hinata that poem?" Naruto stared at Jiraiya. "She asked me yesterday if I wrote it."

Jiraiya smiled. "And did you tell her you did?"

"I said it wasn't my handwriting. It's the truth, since it was your handwriting."

Jiraiya sighed. "I can't believe that you'd say that. I may have written that letter, but you wrote the poem in the first place! Don't you want her to know you like her?!" Naruto shrugged.

"I don't want to tell her and then get turned down. And I was planning to give her something _after_ I wrote a really good poem. Now what am I going to do?!" Naruto paced in front of Jiraiya, who sat with an amused smile on his face.

"It's quite obvious." Jiraiya stood and pointed at Naruto. "You must write the best poem ever and give it to Hinata! Otherwise, she'll think that someone else wrote the poem. So get to work, my young apprentice!" Naruto nodded and headed back to his apartment, ready to start on his next, and hopefully better, poem.

…

After many false starts, failed attempts, and a plan that almost landed them in prison, the girls were at a loss. Hinata watched Ino and Tenten try to come up with a new idea, but she knew it wouldn't work.

"Whoever this secret admirer is, he's really good at hiding." Sakura sighed. "I don't think we're going to be able to find him."

Tenten nodded. "We only have one letter from the guy, and that's not enough." Tenten smiled. "Wait a minute, I've got an idea!" She quickly whispered her plan to the other girls. By the end of it Sakura and Ino were also smiling.

"I'm n-not sure." Hinata glanced at the other girls. "Will it really work?"

"Of course it will!" Ino patted Hinata on the back. "You just have to do one thing. We'll take care of the rest. Your secret admirer won't have a clue what hit him." A plan was formed as the afternoon passed, and even Hinata was sure that it would work by the end.

"Well then, ladies," Sakura stood up, and turned to leave. "Tomorrow, we'll find out this secret admirer's identity. For now, Hinata, you know what you have to do." Hinata nodded and walked to her house, hoping that the plan would really work.

* * *

This is NarutoXHinata, so in the end they'll be together. I'll try to get the next chapter out ASAP.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry it took so long, but the third chapter is finally up!

_

* * *

_

_Secret Admirer,_

_I want to know you better,_

_Please tell me your name._

_Hinata _

Hinata reread her poem and sealed it in an envelope. Sakura had suggested writing a poem, since the secret admirer had written one. Hinata had decided that a haiku would be easy enough, and had written it quickly. Hinata stopped when she reached the log where the first poem had been found. Glancing behind her, she dropped the envelope and walked off. Her part of the plan was done for now.

Tenten's plan was simple. Since the secret admirer wanted Hinata to respond, he would check where he left the poem for her. When he showed up, the rest of the girls would jump him and find out who he was. Granted, there were a few problems that the girls had overlooked.

"How long have we been here?" Ino whispered to Sakura, and shifted in the bush she was hiding in.

Sakura looked down at Ino from her spot in a tree. "Two hours, now shush. We don't know when he'll show up, so we have to quiet."

"Easy for you to say." Ino grumbled. "You don't have branches stabbing you."

"No, but I have a squirrel that won't leave me alone." Sakura shooed it away, but it quickly returned. "It reminds me of Lee."

"Both of you, be quiet!" Tenten hissed from her hiding spot. "Anyway, neither of you are sitting in a hole with a skunk, so stop complaining." Tenten slowly shifted, not wanted to wake the skunk. Sakura and Ino stopped talking and silently thanked their hiding spots for not having skunks.

Sakura stifled a yawn, and glanced into the trees. A shadow darted behind a tree, catching her eye. "Hey, Ino, Tenten, I think our man is hear." Sakura whispered to her hidden cohorts, and pointed toward the shadow.

"Get ready." Tenten tensed, waiting for the person to get closer. The person walked closer, heading for Hinata's poem. "Go!" She shouted as she jumped out of her hiding spot, followed by Ino and Sakura. They grabbed the person and quickly tied him up.

"Gotcha!" Sakura smiled down at their prisoner. As she realized who they had caught, her smile fell. "Y-You're…"

…

Naruto glanced down at the girls from his place in a nearby tree. He had been lucky. As he had approached the spot where Jiraiya had left the poem, Naruto had heard Ino and Sakura whispering to each other. He quickly changed his route and made it to the letter while Sakura, Ino, and Tenten had jumped some innocent bystander.

"I feel sorry for the poor guy." Naruto sat next to Jiraiya, who had rushed to Naruto's apartment after hearing about the response letter. "They probably hit him really hard and tied him up."

"I feel sorry for your room." Jiraiya poked a pile of ramen cups with his foot. It shifted, revealing dirty laundry. "Do you ever clean this place?"

"That's off topic." Naruto held up the poem, avoiding the question. "I need you to help me write a response."

"Why don't you just tell her the truth?" Jiraiya grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. "Never mind, I know your answer. So, what am I going to write?"

Naruto thought for a minute. "Well, it should be a poem." Jiraiya nodded. "But I don't want to tell her who I am yet."

"So you're making a poem to tell her that your identity is a secret." Jiraiya handed Naruto a paper and pencil. "Get to work."

"Aren't you going to help me?" Naruto looked at the paper helplessly.

"I am helping. I'll write the final version so that it doesn't look bad. You just have to come up with the words."

Naruto glared at him and started working on the poem.

…

"We are really, really sorry." Sakura apologized for the hundredth time that day. "We thought you were someone else."

Ino nodded. "Yes, we wouldn't have jumped you if we had known it was you, Hokage."

Tsunade glared at them. All she had been doing was ditching work, taking a nice, long walk when the girls had leapt out of nowhere and tied her up. Luckily they had quickly realized who they had caught and untied her.

"We never speak of this again, understand?" The three girls nodded. "Good, then run along." Tsunade sighed as they left. "If anyone found out about that, I'd be a laughingstock."

"What would make you a laughingstock?" Tsunade jumped and looked at the person who had spoken. Shizune grabbed Tsunade's arm and dragged her towards the office. "Lady Tsunade, you disappeared when I went to get more forms for you. The work is just piling up. You won't be able to leave until at least ten."

Tsunade stared at the mountains of paperwork. "I'm beginning to wish that they had left me tied up."

* * *

Again, I'm sorry it took so long. I'll try to be faster next time, but I make no promises.


	4. Chapter 4

I am so,so sorry it took so long. I don't have a good excuse, so I made one up: I was about to start writing when gangster mermen showed up and kidnapped me. They stranded me on a desert island with nothing but a pack of spearmint gum. I spent my time catching fish and trying to excape from the island. Finally, I got a pod of dolphins to take me to shore in exchange for my gum (because everyone knows that dolphins love spearmint gum). Then I was able to finish this chapter.

* * *

_Hinata,_

_I am truly sorry to say,_

_I can't tell you who I am today._

_I want to remain a mystery,_

_Please don't forget me in your private history._

_I will love you forever,_

_And forget you never._

_All that I ask,_

_Is that you let me keep my mask._

_Love,_

_Your Eternal Servant_

Hinata handed the poem to Sakura, Ino and Tenten. Reading it, they sighed.

"He's better than I thought." Tenten handed the poem back to Hinata. "And he left it where he left the first one?"

Hinata nodded. "Y-yes, I went to see if you were still waiting, and I found it just sitting there. Where d-did you go?"

"We were distracted." Ino said with a blush. "We jumped the wrong person on mistake."

"There were a few flaws in the plan. Next time, we'll get him."

Ino glared at Tenten. "There is no way I am waiting there again. We need a new plan."

Hinata looked at the three other girls. They were real friends, friends who could be doing something else, but wanted to stay and lend a hand. "There aren't e-enough of us." Hinata thought out loud. Sakura, Ino and Tenten stopped talking and turned to her. "What we need is more of us."

Sakura smiled. "And I know where we can find them."

…

"Why are we here again?" Neji glanced at the boy sitting next to him. Choji shrugged and started on his next bowl of ramen.

"I dunno. Ino came up to me and told me that she'd buy me all-you-can-eat ramen if I agreed to help." Choji reached for Neji's bowl. "Do you know what's going on, Shikamaru?"

"No." Shikamaru moved his bowl out of Choji's reach. "But since the girl's got all of us together, it's probably either really important or really stupid. Knowing Ino, it's probably the latter."

Ino waited until all the boys except Choji were finished eating before speaking. "We gathered you here today to help us with something significant. We were unable to do it by ourselves, so we need you to help."

Kiba leaned forward. "What is it? Is it a mission?"

Ino nodded. "Yes, it's a mission. It's a mission to find out the identity of Hinata's secret admirer!"

"So you were right Shikamaru, it is a stupid reason." Choji finished his ramen. "I'm going home." Choji stood to leave, but Tenten shoved him back into his seat.

"None of you are leaving until you agree to help." Tenten pointed at Hinata. "Are you so coldhearted that you won't help poor Hinata find out who has been leaving messages for her?" She turned to Neji. "Neji, you're her cousin! Isn't it your duty to make sure whoever is doing this is a good guy?" Tenten spun to face Kiba and Shino. "And you're her teammates! You should have been helping her since she first got the letter! Now, are you going to help us, or are we going to sitting here all night?" Reluctantly, the boys agreed to assist in any way possible.

Ino grinned. "Well done, Tenten! Now we have all the guys at our disposal."

"Wait a minute." Sakura glanced around the table. "Aren't we missing someone?"

Hinata looked at the faces around her. "Where's Naruto?"

…

Naruto looked up from his pile of rejected poems. "Jiraiya, I have a question."

Jiraiya sighed. Every ten minutes Naruto asked him a question. Jiraiya hadn't been bothered at first, but many hours and hundreds of questions later, he was ready to grab Naruto and shove his poem in a very uncomfortable place. "What is it now, Naruto?"

"What rhymes with orange?"

Jiraiya stopped working and stared at Naruto. "Nothing." Jiraiya put his head in his hands. "Nothing rhymes with orange."

"But-" Knocking on the door cut Naruto's response short. Naruto and Jiraiya jumped up, and shoved all of the poems under the couch. Naruto walked to the door and slowly opened it. "Hello?"

"Good, you're home." Kiba grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him out of his apartment. "The girls told me to get you. Now let's get going before they start complaining again."

"Why do they need me?"

"To help us find Hinata's 'secret admirer'. They said that we all have to help until we find out this guy's name." Kiba shrugged. "They won't take 'no' for an answer."

Naruto paled, and then realized that he hadn't gotten dressed that morning. "Wait a minute, I'm not ready! I didn't think that I'd be going out today." He tried to pull away. "Let me go change."

"Sorry, Naruto, but if we make Ino wait, she'll kill us." He dragged Naruto towards the meeting place. "Anyway, considering what you normally wear, no one is going to notice."

Naruto glanced at his clothes. "I hope you're right."

…

"_What_ are you wearing?" Sakura stared at Naruto.

"A t-shirt and, um, boxers." Naruto rubbed his head where Sakura had punched him. Sakura was known for her 'hit first, ask questions later' philosophy, and when Naruto had shown out at the restaurant looking like he was ready for bed, it was no exception. Naruto waved his hand in Kiba's direction. "Blame Kiba! He didn't give me time to get dressed."

Kiba shrugged. "You said to get him here with as few delays as possible, so that's what I did."

"I didn't know that someone makes 'I ramen' boxers." Shino said with a glance at Naruto.

"Let's end this conversation before I become ill." Ino looked at Kiba. "Give him your jacket, Kiba."

Kiba shook his head. "No way. He would probably spill something on it."

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "I don't want to wear that thing, it smells like a wet dog."

Kiba glared at him. "Well, it smells better than you usually do. Do you even know what soap is?"

"At least I don't have fleas."

"Fleas would die if they tried to live on you, ramen-boy."

"So it's better to have to have flea dips, dog-breath?"

"Why I oughta-"

"That's enough!" Sakura slammed her fist on the table, startling Kiba and Naruto, and breaking the table in the process. "Will you two stop fighting like little boys? We have more important things to do right now." Sakura looked at Naruto. "Kiba told you why you're here, right?" Naruto nodded. "Good. Then go home and put some pants on. We'll split into pairs so we can cover more ground. Naruto, your partner will meet you at your apartment." Sakura stood up. "Okay, let's move it people!"

…

Naruto ran into his apartment, slamming the door behind him. Jiraiya looked up from his pile of notes. "Naruto, where have you been? You answered the door and then disappeared. I was just about to leave and… what are you doing?" Jiraiya asked as Naruto ran from the kitchen to his bedroom to the living room and back to the kitchen.

"I'm looking for my pants." Naruto opened his fridge. "Here's a pair!"

"Why were your pants in the fridge?" Jiraiya paused. "Actually, forget I asked. Are you going to get back to work now?"

Naruto shook his head. "I can't. Sakura is making me help look for Hinata's secret admirer."

"But you're her secret admirer." Jiraiya scratched his head. "So you have to help them find you? This is going to be interesting."

"I just have to mislead them." The doorbell rang and Naruto went to answer it. "As long as I'm partnered with a guy it should be no problem." Naruto opened the door and froze.

Jiraiya glanced over his shoulder. "This is going to be _very_ interesting."

"Are you ready to go, N-Naruto?" Hinata asked, smiling shyly.

* * *

Hopefully mermen won't kidnap me next time (also, please don't give gum to dolphins. It makes them think they're cooler than they really are).


End file.
